In 1918 Claude Hopkins published the book "Scientific Advertising." This book was so revolutionary - and so fundamentally correct - that I can say the following with a straight face:
Every person who is successfully selling online in 2007 is following Claude Hopkins' advice from 89 years ago, whether they know it or not.
In fact Bryan Todd and I consider Scientific Advertising such a landmark text that in our own book "The Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords" (now at your local bookstore), each chapter has a segment called 'Advice from Uncle Claude' where his sage advice applies to today.
At the end of Scientific Advertising, he makes a statement that for decades appeared to be tragically, almost dangerously wrong:
"Most national advertising is done without testing. It is merely presumed to pay. Such methods, still so prevalent, are not very far from their end. The advertising men who practice them see the writing on the wall. The time is fast coming when men who spend money are going to know what they get. Good business and efficiency will be applied to advertising. Men and methods will be measured by the known returns, and only competent men can survive.
Only one hour ago an old advertising man said to me, "The day for our type is done. Bunk has lost its power. Sophistry is being displaced by actuality. And I tremble at the trend."
Little did Uncle Claude know that TV would come, and with it, stupid slogans and talking socks and hundreds of billions of dollars of ads that nobody ever bothered to measure. Surely he was rolling in his grave.
But then the Internet came... and Pay Per Click, an auction where bids in every niche would be different... and 89 years later Uncle Claude turned out to be exactly right.
In 2007, the nonsense is being pounded out of advertising at breakneck speed.
This is bad, bad news for the bunk and sophistry guys. And media queen ad reps who persuade with mini-skirts and succulent cleavage. But it's good news for you and me. And the thing that Hopkins couldn't have forseen was how entire niches and new markets are now created almost overnight, just by understanding your customers and responding to their needs.
At the beginning, this whole PPC game looks really easy. ("Loookeee here, honnnnny, we're gonna get riiiiiiiccchh with thiiiiiiis!") Then you do it for awhile... and fork over your tuition at the School Of Hard Knocks.
Fun, fun, fun.
Those who persist, though, begin to break through. With competent mentoring, it takes about six weeks to 'get it.' You begin to see through the haze... Oh, it's about the conversation inside the customer's head. It's about matching your offering, your message, your story to their desire, then following through and delivering satisfaction.
Once you get it to work, it's addictive. You can't get enough.
Perry Marshall, perrymarshall.com
Watch Out for Winter Workouts
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